Method and system for redundant turbine control

Abstract

A method and system for redundant turbine control is provided. The method includes classifying first and second turbine control units (TCUs) as a primary and secondary TCUs and receiving, in parallel, monitored data from a wind turbine at both the primary TCU and secondary TCU. The primary TCU periodically calculates state information based on received monitored data and any previously calculated state information, and communicates the state information from the primary TCU to the secondary TCU after each computation cycle. The secondary TCU stores the state information into memory while the primary TCU sends control messages to the wind turbine.

1 . A method for redundant control, comprising:
 classifying a first control unit as a primary;   classifying a second control unit as a secondary;   receiving, in parallel, monitored data at both the primary and secondary control units;   periodically calculating state information in the primary control unit based on the received monitored data and any previously calculated state information, wherein each period is a computation cycle;   communicating the state information from the primary to the secondary control unit after each computation cycle;   at the secondary control unit, storing the state information into memory; and   sending control messages from the primary control unit to the controlled .   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the primary control unit and secondary control unit comprise the turbine control units (TCUs) of a wind turbine. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising sending a heartbeat message from the primary TCU to the secondary TCU at substantially the same time as the communication of the state information from the primary TCU to the secondary TCU. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 at the secondary TCU, listening for incoming state information from the primary TCU;   wherein, if incoming state information is not received at the secondary TCU within a single polling interval, performing the following:
 periodically calculating state information in the secondary TCU based on the received monitored data from the wind turbine and the previously received state information from the primary TCU; and 
 periodically sending control messages from the secondary TCU to the wind turbine. 
   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the duration of the single polling interval is greater than or equal to the duration of a computation cycle. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising shutting down the primary TCU after incoming state information is not received at the secondary TCU within a single polling interval. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising, at the primary TCU, listening for incoming state information from the secondary TCU. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising sending state information from the secondary TCU to the primary TCU after a failure of the primary TCU is detected. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the classification of the first and second TCUs is based at least in part on a state machine. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the classification of the first and second TCUs is based at least in part on the setting of a jumper or DIP switch on at least one TCU. 
     
     
         11 . A system for redundant control, the system comprising:
 a wind turbine;   a first and a second turbine control unit (TCU), each TCU comprising a processor and memory; and   a shared interface between the wind turbine and the first and second TCUs operative to communicate analog or digital data from the wind turbine to the first and second TCUs in parallel, wherein the first TCU is classified as a primary TCU and the second TCU is classified as a secondary TCU and the primary TCU is operative to:
 periodically calculate state information based on received monitored data received from the wind turbine and any previously calculated state information; 
 communicate the calculated state information from he primary TCU to the secondary TCU; and 
 send control messages to the wind turbine, wherein the secondary TCU is operative to store calculated state information received from the primary TCU into memory. 
   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the secondary TCU is further operative to:
 listen for incoming state information from the primary TCU, wherein if incoming state information is not received at the secondary TCU within a single polling interval, performing the following:
 periodically calculate state information in the secondary TCU based on the received monitored data from the wind turbine and the previously received state information from the primary TCU; and 
 periodically send control messages from the secondary TCU to the wind turbine. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , the system further comprising an optical connection between the primary TCU and secondary TCU;
 wherein the primary TCU communicates state information to the secondary TCU via the optical connection.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , the system further comprising at least one of:
 an ethernet port,   a peripheral component interface (PCI) device, and   a data network interface.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the shared interface between the wind turbine and the first and second TCUs is an optical interface comprising:
 an optical input device for receiving data from the wind turbine; and   an optical output device for transmitting control data to the wind turbine, wherein data received from the wind turbine through the optical input device is delivered to the first and second TCU in parallel.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the first and second TCUs contain interchangeable firmware such that each is capable of functioning as either the primary or secondary TCU. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the primary TCU is operative to communicate state information to the secondary TCU in a manner involving dual port RAM. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , further comprising an optical ring connection between the first and second TCUs and the shared interface. 
     
     
         19 . A system for redundant turbine control, comprising:
 a wind turbine;   a first and a second turbine control unit (TCU), each TCU comprising:
 a processor, 
 dual port memory, and 
 direct memory access (DMA) controller; and 
   a shared interface between the wind turbine and the first and second TCUs.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the shared interface is operative to communicate analog or digital data from the wind turbine to the first and second TCUs; and
 wherein the first TCU is operative to:   periodically calculate state information based on monitored data received from the wind turbine and any previously calculated state information; and   communicate the calculated state information from the first TCU to the dual port memory of the secondary TCU via the DMA controller.   
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 19 , further comprising an optical ring interface operative to communicate information from the first TCU to the second TCU.